What you'll never see on TV: candid talk about her brand-new baby, missing her husband, and her love for a woman called Mom

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Only a few years ago, Kelly Ripa was the newly minted cohost of the hit talk show Live with Regis and Kelly. She was also seven months pregnant and occupying a dressing room filled with baby gifts. Ripa had that baby — a little girl named Lola — who joined big brother Michael, five.

On this day, Ripa is once again pregnant, with a baby boy due any minute. (Son Joaquin was born on February 24.) "Seriously, we have guests who have only seen me pregnant," she laughs. "They came on when I first got here, and I was pregnant. They come back on, and I'm still pregnant. They must think I have the gestational period of an elephant!"

Once again, baby goodies clutter nearly every surface in this surprisingly small dressing room (one basket is from Sharon Osbourne), while photos of some of Ripa's favorite guests hang on the wall; a recent picture shows daughter Lola getting cozy with Tom Cruise. "He held her for nearly an hour," Ripa marvels. "They were totally in love. She kept stroking his face."

There have been other changes in her life, beyond babies. A longtime star of the soap opera All My Children — she met her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, on the set in 1995 — Ripa recently left the show. Last year, she was on several episodes of the NBC comedy Ed and became a pitchwoman for Pantene hair products. Consuelos, who also quit All My Children, has made the war movie The Great Raid, with Benjamin Bratt, due out this fall.

Now Ripa can also add author to her list of accomplishments: Last month, I Love You, Mom! — including a foreword by Ripa and an essay about her own mother — was published by Hyperion. Celebrities ranging from Larry King to supermodel Emme also contributed pieces about their mothers. (See .)

In her dressing room, Ripa kicks off her shoes and gets ready to talk — but not before pointing to her feet and wryly noting, "I have a pinched nerve in my heel, so now I have to get orthotics made. Yep, the glamour and excitement never stop around here!"

Kate Coyne: Did you and Mark have fun picking out a name for the new baby?Kelly Ripa: Actually, with the third, you're at this place where you really don't even care anymore, because you've done it twice before and you're sick of the baby-name books. One day, you just snap and go, "Spoon? How about Spoon? Spoon is a good name." I think about people who have, like, seven or eight kids. I'm surprised they're not so tired that they don't just name the kid after whatever his first activity was that day: "Have you met my son Toothbrush?" [Laughs]

KC: Well, with a first child, some people want the name to have a lot of significance and family meaning....KR: No, with your first son, you name him Michael. Know how I know? When I go to the playground and I say "Michael, it's time to go," 78 children come running at me. Everyone names their firstborn Michael. It's the law.

KC: You named your daughter Lola, which isn't exactly run-of-the-mill.KR: And Michael was supposed to be named Joaquin. Mark and I love to go ethnic. With a last name like Consuelos, you can. But I grew up with the name Kelly, which rhymes with smelly. And I'm still obsessive about my personal hygiene, because I'm like, "I don't want to smell!" Because the kids used to call me Smelly Kelly, even though I wasn't. Names can do things to you. So we were really thinking about Joaquin Consuelos, very ethnic, very manly; we liked it. And then both of Mark's grandfathers passed away a month before Michael was born, so we named him Michael Joseph; those were their names. But with Lola, I mean, we just knew she was going to be a little showgirl.

KC: Is that turning out to be true? What's her personality like?KR: Here's the latest picture of her. Isn't she yummy? And she's huge. She's Big Lola. Michael had one of his little friends over, but this friend is actually not so little. This boy is Michael's age, but he's my size. I'm not kidding, I could wear his sweatshirt. And the boys were pushing Lola around. She was trying to get her bath toys, and anything she touched they ripped out of her hand while pushing her away. So she came up behind them both and grabbed them by the back of their necks and knocked the two of them onto the ground. Both of these boys started crying. Bawling, actually. While Lola just stood there and went back to her toys.

KC: Good for her. She stands up for herself.KR: Well, I think she just knew she had to live up to her name. And she really does. I mean, both of my kids have great personalities.

KC: I still love the story of Michael screaming "Please don't hurt me, lady!" when you tried to scold him in public for misbehaving.KR: Actually, I believe what he hollered was "I am being kidnapped! Somebody help me!" And I'm thinking, Oh, no, somebody help me. Please, arrest me, take me away from these ungrateful children. [Laughs]

KC: The last time we spoke, you said you were happy with the age gap between Michael and Lola, and you'd wait awhile before having a third. Doesn't look like it worked out that way.KR: All right, here's what happened. Mark and I were talking about trying, because we had tried for almost three years to get pregnant with Lola after Michael. So Mark gets this movie in Australia, and he's going away for almost five months, and I'm thinking, We should at least try, once, before you go. See if we can remember how to do it, you know?

KC: And that's a long time to be apart....KR: Exactly. So I figured, we'll try in August and then we'll try when you get home. He left about a week and a half later, and he went into boot camp, which was this training thing the guys went through to get into character for the film. I wasn't allowed to speak to him for two weeks. No communication at all. Which, of course, is when I found out I was pregnant. So I was sitting there for two weeks, just waiting, desperate, yearning to talk to him. Because I'm dying to say, "Guess what, sharpshooter?" [Laughs]

KC: You're becoming an old pro at having babies around the house by now.KR: Yes, and thank God, because with each one, you get less panicky. Lola was a much more relaxed infant than Michael because we were always standing over Michael, going, "Did he blink? What was that? What was that?" Can you imagine being a small baby waking up and there are eight frightening-looking people who haven't slept in three weeks standing over you? But with Lola it was a much more peaceful thing. Her big brother came to the hospital to visit her, and the first thing he did was hit her in the head with this little toy hammer. So it was like, Yep, Lola, this is what your life is going to be like. I'm sorry.

KC: This time around, you learned you were having a boy. You were once adamant about not knowing.KR: I still don't recommend finding out unless you have other kids, because there's something about being surprised that I really enjoyed very much. But I have two kids already. I'm living in a small apartment. I have two huge storage containers filled with baby clothes. I need to know what I don't need and what I'm hanging on to. The girl stuff is going and the boy stuff is staying. And, look, I was already surprised twice. There are no more surprises left, really. What are they going to tell me this time? It's a cat. It's a chicken. Oh, my gosh, it has a beak.

KC: How does Michael feel about having a brother?KR: After we had Lola, he thought she was really cool, but he kept saying, "I would really like a baby brother. A baby brother would be great. I want a baby brother." So he's very excited. He's getting what he wants, which he loves. And he loves being told that he's going to be a big brother to his little brother, and he's going to teach his little brother how to be a man.... God help us.

KC: Does Michael act more like a big boy now?KR: Well, this is interesting. When Lola was born, right away Mark said, "This girl is never allowed to date anyone as long as she lives." But then he's always bragging, "Well, Michael has all these girlfriends at school." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. It's such a double standard!

KC: Does he really have little playground girlfriends?KR: Yes, he has this trio named Paulina, Carly, and Kayla. I heard them the other day, and one said, "Who do you love the most? Me or Paulina?" And I thought, Oh, God, here we go.

KC: Do you want things for your kids that you didn't have?KR: Well, I didn't go to college, and it's something I will regret forever. I have a great life; I can't imagine it being any better. But part of me always feels like the dodo bird at the table. You know, when the conversations go to "Well, where did you go to college, where did you go to graduate school, what was your major, what did you do your thesis on?" And I'm like, "Um...." Not going to college, it sort of gives you a chip on your shoulder. Would I change anything in my life? No. But I have hopes that my kids will go to college someday, certainly.

KC: Why did you decide to work on a book about motherhood? Were you inspired by your own relationship with your mom?KR: Absolutely. Have you seen the photo of her from the book? My mommy is so cute.

KC: What would you say are the biggest lessons you learned from your mom?KR: My mom didn't teach me normal stuff, like how to do laundry or cook. She thought it would be better for us to have ballet lessons than do chores around the house. Which I do and don't agree with. Now that I have my own kids, they're going to do chores, because when I moved out on my own, I didn't know how to operate a can opener! Because my mom wanted us to be exposed to the arts and have music classes, and that was considered more important than doing the laundry or picking up after yourself. But I'll tell you one lesson of hers that I'll always remember: She taught me to never call a boy.

KC: Really? That's an interesting piece of advice.KR: Well, it's very funny too. On one hand, it's that whole thing about you should never call a boy because it's not polite. But at the same time, what my mom was saying to me was "Look, don't call a boy, because they love the thrill of the hunt and they'll come to you that way." Plus, there's the rationale that if they want you, they'll call you, and if they don't call, then they're not interested in you, in which case, who needs 'em? And that piece of advice is how I've lived my life. And I have the greatest husband ever, so that advice must work. To this day, Mark will say, "Why aren't you returning my calls?"

KC: How else do you feel she's influenced you?KR: Well, my mom and my dad really feel very strongly that marriage is a sacrament. And Mark grew up the same way I did. So we both have this fantastic foundation, the two of us, with the same sort of mentality: You're my partner, I'm your partner, and it's you and me against the world. When Mark and I got married, we vowed our allegiance to one another. And my mom, in the way she is with my dad, has really been an example for me. I'm so grateful that there's so much stability in my life. It's shown me that things are better when you have someone to share them with.

KC: I would think it's also important to have that stability, given the crazy business you're in.KR: Oh, we'll have somebody come on the show and they're married, and then they come back a year later and they're not married, and then they come back and they're getting married again. It's unbelievable. But you know what bothers me? In the beginning, anyway, people didn't take our marriage seriously because Mark and I eloped. Think about what that says. We didn't have a big, fancy party, so it really didn't count. Meanwhile, I've had friends that have gotten married, got a divorce, gotten married...and I've been married the whole time. Yet these friends will say "Oh, well, you eloped" and roll their eyes. And I just think, Yeah, well, I've been at all three of your weddings. [Laughs] And I bought you a gift for all of them!

KC: How do you feel about leaving All My Children?KR: I feel great not having to go there after I work in the morning. This is all new to me, having free time, having time to have lunch. For the first time in 13 years, I can have lunch with my husband at a restaurant. I had no idea that there was this whole world of people out there eating in restaurants in the middle of the day. Because I've spent so many years of my life eating with my husband in my dressing room out of a container from some Chinese restaurant.

KC: So, will there be a fourth baby?KR: I'll never say never. But I don't know that I'll give birth to a fourth, let's put it that way.

KC: You would consider adopting?KR: Oh, yes, absolutely. I don't know that I can handle being pregnant again. I just don't know that I could do it. I've really been feeling it this time; I just feel so uncomfortable.

KC: You don't seem to have gained much weight with this pregnancy....KR: Are you kidding me? I've put on 30 pounds already. If I didn't think you'd write about it, I'd just get naked for you right now. I'd let you see all my cellulite, and then you'd be sorry.

KC: Are you concerned about losing the baby weight?KR: Well, I don't work out, but I don't really expect results either. It comes off when it comes off. And when you have kids, your life is sort of constant exercise. You're always running around, making sure they don't kill each other. But do I have time to go to the gym right now? No. Do I want to? Not really. I'm too lazy. Even if I had all the time in the world, I really am very lazy. I like to walk on the treadmill occasionally. But that's really only when I'm watching Judge Judy. That's my sacred time. And I don't walk fast. And if something really good is happening, I step off, so I can really absorb what Judy's saying.

KC: It sounds like your life is too good right now to complicate it with something as tedious as working out.KR: You're right. My life is just too relaxed right now. It used to be that whatever fell from a high chair is what I would eat for dinner. Now I say to people, "You know what, guys? I'm going to eat!" And trust me, I've earned it — I'm going to eat something really good!

In an exclusive excerpt from the new book I Love You, Mom!, Kelly Ripa shares childhood memories and grown-up reflections

What is it that makes your mother so wondrous? Is it her ability to kiss a boo-boo and make it better? Is it that only her toasted cheese sandwiches are melted just right? Why does a drink of water from your mother's glass taste so much better than the one you get for yourself? The answer to all of these questions is simple: She's your mom — the one person you can rely on at any hour of the day for unconditional love, patience, and devotion. With that thought in mind, I would like to share this letter I wrote to my mother.

Dear Mom,
To begin to express gratitude for a person who is literally responsible for my life seems a daunting task. You made sacrifices without my ever knowing it, loved me unconditionally, and have supported all of my endeavors — and did it with grace, dignity, and beauty. You taught me what it was to be a woman, and since the moment I was born, you are the person that I looked up to. Where do I begin to thank you and explain to you how appreciative I am? I suppose at the beginning.

My earliest memories were of watching Dark Shadows with you; I reveled in the late nighttime we shared together. I partially think that I enjoyed staying up late because I had you to myself and we could laugh for hours. I remember when Linda, my sister, was born, you took time to buy me a book so I would feel included and special. And I remember thinking how much more beautiful you were than anyone I had ever seen, even the glamorous women from Charlie's Angels and Love Boat

Growing up, I knew that I could count on your help for any obstacle that I faced. I could depend on you to drop off my homework at school when I left it at home, drive me around to all of my activities, or even tell me my hair looked great when it was sprayed and teased to at least five feet in the air! Of course we had our difficult times during the teen years, but you always tried to understand where I was coming from. You chose to speak to me with respect and compassion, which is a skill I try to employ with my own children. No one understands, or listens, or lends comfort the way you do. You're my best friend, and have been my entire life. You have always been there for me when I needed you. You're the first person I call when I have good news or need advice, and of course you're the first person I call when I need consolation.

You always put us first and yourself last, doing without things so that your daughters could have everything life had to offer. However, you never acknowledged the sacrifices, as material possessions mean so little to you. Without question, your children were your top priority.

Now that I am a mom, I understand all the time that you had to give up so that you could be there for ballet classes, rehearsals, or school shows. I also understand that it is not a sacrifice but a gift — to be able to attend such important events in a child's life, and to have such a wonderful relationship is the largest blessing. You have guided us through life with unyielding support and pride; I always know how loved I am. My only hope is that I am the mother for my children that you have been to me. I had the best teacher, after all. So much good advice was given to me over the years — some of it I even followed, when I was smart. I guess the only thing I can say is thank you for the years of loyalty, advice, tutoring, kissed boo-boos, changed diapers, hot meals, clean clothes, and a shoulder to cry on. Thanks, too, for being the greatest mother anyone could ever ask for. I love you!

Larry King, broadcaster "I was certainly her favorite child. In the morning, she'd say, 'So, for dinner, what do we want, boys?' I'd say, 'Lamb chops,' and my brother would say, 'Chicken.' We'd have lamb chops.... She taught me optimism, a very valuable trait in my field. You can never replace your mother. No matter how old you get, you never stop missing her."Pat Schroeder, former congresswoman "My mother should be made a saint for all she went through raising me. I always pushed the limits, played with airplanes, and got a pilot's license. Then I went to Harvard Law School. She was sure no one would marry me and she would never have grandchildren. When all that happened, she was thrilled."Melissa Rivers, TV host "My mother believes that when one door shuts, another door opens. I admire her tenacity and her generosity and her ability to do 17 things at once."Dana Buchman, designer "She was incredibly warm, but she wasn't a sentimental-type mom at all. As far as she was concerned, Mother's Day was created by Hallmark — you should honor your mother every day. She always made me feel smart, beautiful, and loved."Nancy Snyderman, M.D. and author "She was constantly reminding us of the beauty in small things — the crocus pushing its way out of the snow, the animal figures in the clouds, and why it was important to be late for school one morning so we could watch our cat give birth. She was one of a kind and never failed me."Carole Black, TV executive "My grandmother raised me and my older sister. We called her Mama, but then again, everybody did. She taught me that the real competition isn't with anyone else — it's with yourself. It's about being the best that you can be — and being exhilarated by that."Donna Hanover, TV personality "What I learned from my mom is that in life, you need to be flexible, to realize that challenges are best viewed as an adventure. I learned that living in a civilized way is not about having the finest house or furniture, but about the way people treat one another."